TOW a long time after Part 4
by Daniela
Summary: A continuation of Tow a long time after Part 3. It's a C & M fanfic.


The One With A Long Time After   
Part 4  
  
  
Chapter 10:  
The Awaited Arrival  
  
Monica was sitting in a plastic chair in the waiting room waiting for everyone else to arrive. Rachel was having the baby and had asked Monica to call everybody. Monica had called Joey and Phoebe about fifteen minutes ago and she had called Chandler from home making sure he would make it in time since he had a longer traveling rout. Ross was in the hospital room with Rachel.   
So far the contractions were far apart and the doctor said that she wouldn't have the baby for atleast two hours. Monica picked up a magazine and pretended to read it so that she wouldn't just be sitting there staring at the door praying for everyone else to arrive. At that moment Chandler entered and spotted her. "Mon!" he said and went up to her.   
Monica was really relieved that Chandler had gotten there, this hospital made her think of her own baby. It was almost as if he knew what she thought. He sat down next to her.   
"Where is everyone?" he wondered and looked around.   
"Ross is in there with Rachel and Joey and Phoebe haven't arrived yet" Monica explained.   
Suddenly Ross appeared from the hospital room, he looked nervous and seemed unable to relax. Monica went up to him.   
"How is she?" she wondered and looked at Ross' worried face.   
"What? Oh she's fine, everything is going according to the timeschedule" Ross replied but still looked nervous.   
"And how are you?" Monica wondered.   
Ross sighed.   
"I've been better, I just hate seeing her like this"   
Monica gave him a comforting hug.   
"It's natural to be nervous at a time like this" she said trying to comfort him. "But you weren't this much nervous when Carol had Ben"   
"That's because she was my ex-wife and I didn't love her like that anymore, but this is Rachel the woman I've loved my whole life, I just hate seeing her in this much pain"   
He and Monica hugged again.   
"I know what you mean"   
Ross and Monica broke from their hug and looked at Chandler.   
"It's heartbreaking watching someone you truly love just lay there helpless, and you know that there is nothing you can do" he continiued without looking at either Ross or Monica. "Believe me, I know"   
His voice was now not louder than a whisper and he had a sad face expression, as he looked up at Ross, they could see that he had tears in his eyes.   
"But the diffrence between you and me is that your wife's going to be fine" he finished and tried to smile but failed.   
Ross looked at him.   
He had never seen Chandler like this before.   
First now he realized how important Julia had been to his best friend.   
The guilt from not apologizing when he had yelled at Chandler about his own wedding resurfaced but before he could say something a nurse came up to him and told him that Rachel wanted to see him. With one last look at Chandler he hurried after her. Monica went over to Chandler and gave him a long hug. Chandler hugged her back and they just stood like that for a while. Monica came to think about when Ben had been born and how upset she had been over her mothers mean comments about how that may have been her only time.   
Then she had been in tears and Chandler had comforted her, now it was the other way around. As the door opened Chandler released Monica and quickly dried his tears before Joey and Phoebe got a chance to see them.   
"Did we miss it?" Phoebe wondered and looked at Monica.   
Monica shook her head.   
"The contractions are pretty far apart for now" she said and looked at Chandler from the corner of her eye.   
He was deeply lost in thought and she felt that she would give anything to find out what was on his mind.  
  
*****************  
  
Joey and Chandler were sitting on a couch waiting for news about Rachel's condition. Neither of them were speaking. Ross was in Rachel's hospitalroom and Phoebe and Monica had gone to get some coffee. Joey was looking at a Knicks game on the TV above them and Chandler was just staring into space.   
Suddenly Mandy entered, she spotted Joey and went over to him.   
"Joey I got your message, what's going on?"   
"Rachel's having her baby" Joey explained.   
Mandy gasped.   
"Really? That's so great!"   
She gave Joey a hug and kissed him lightly.   
Suddenly she noticed that the man next to them were staring curiously at her. She felt uncomfertable and released Joey.   
"Aren't you gonna intruduce me?" the man wondered and looked at Joey.   
"Oh right, almost forgot!" Joey said and turned to Mandy. "Mandy this is Chandler, Chandler this is Mandy"  
Mandy just stared at the man infront of her. So this was him. Now when she looked at him closer she recognized him from the pictures that the others had showed her. But there was some diffrence, the man infront of her didn't have that childish smile and happy eyes. This man had a sad smile and his eyes were serious. He reached out his hand and she took it.   
"Nice to meet you" was all she could get out.  
Chandler smiled a bit.   
"I take it Joey didn't tell you many good things about me, believe me all that he did tell you is true"   
Mandy couldn't help but smile.   
"No, no I'm just a little surprised that's all"   
In that moment Monica and Phoebe returned.   
"Hi guys here comes coffee!" Phoebe said and handed out some mugs.   
Monica went up to Chandler.   
"You feeling better?" she whispered so that the others couldn't hear her. Chandler nodded.   
"I guess. I just don't really like hospitals, you know, bad memories"   
Monica nodded.   
"I have some of those myself" she said and again came to think about her own baby. It had happened on one of her checkups, the doctor was taking a sonogram and found that the babys heart wasn't beating. It was dead. Monica remembered all the nights that she had cried herself to sleep not finding anything she wanted to live for. Lewis hadn't been the man she had thought he was. Instead of supporting her through her diffucult time he blamed it all on her and moved away. She hadn't seen him since then. Chandler noticed a single tear rolling down her cheek, he gently pushed it away.   
"Shh, it's ok" Monica looked up at him.   
"You're right, Rachel's having her baby and I'm going to be an aunt again" Chandler gave her a hug.   
"Now we'll just have to focus on that and not about what bad memories hospitals brings us" he said and looked at her. "This is Ross and Rachel's big day and nothing else"   
He smiled and Monica managed to smile back at him before she leaned on his shoulder.   
Meanwhile Mandy was looking at them from the corner of her eye. She had been friends with Monica for months now and never seen her this relaxed before. She looked safe. Mandy could also feel that the atmosphere in the room had changed as well. Maybe it was all the excitement of Rachel giving birth but she senced that some of it had to do with Chandler as well.   
It was something soothing about him. He didn't try to be somebody he wasn't. Althought right now he looked pretty miserable he managed to get Monica to smile, something neither of the others would have managed. Suddenly she noticed that Joey was looking at her.   
"What?" she wondered.   
Joey smiled.   
"Your mind seemed to be far, far away"   
Mandy laughed a bit.   
"It was"  
  
*****************  
  
Rachel was sitting with Ross next to her holding her new born when the others came in. Ross looked up.   
"Hey" he said and looked overwelmed.   
Rachel was not taking her eyes of her baby. The others slowly moved towards them and Mandy noticed that Chandler had his arm protectively around Monica who looked happy yet tormented. Rachel looked up at them and smiled weakly. "Guys there's someone I'd like you to meet" she said as she heald up the baby. "This is little Tobias Alexander Geller"   
"I can't believe you actually have one of those" Phoebe said and the others, except Mandy, turned to Chandler waiting for some sarcastic remark but Chandler just kept quiet and looked at the baby.   
"Ross could I..." Monica wondered and Ross nodded.   
He carefully took the baby out of Rachel's arms and placed him in Monica's. Monica had tears running down her cheeks but they were not out of sadness but out of happiness.   
"Hi, I'm your aunt Monica, I... I will always have gum"   
Chandler chuckled a little thinking about the time she held the then newborn Ben for the first time. Monica carefully gave the baby back to Rachel and went to stand next to Chandler. Ross looked at them all.   
"I think these two could use a little rest now" he said reffering to Rachel and the baby.   
The others nodded and left the room. When they had gotten outside Phoebe turned to the others.   
"So who feel like going celebrating!?"   
Joey and Mandy nodded but Monica shook her head.   
"I'm really tired, I think I'll just go home" she said.   
Phoebe looked at her worriedly.  
"Are you sure that you're ok?"   
Monica gave her a weak smile.   
"I'm fine"   
Phoebe turned to Chandler.   
"How about you, are you coming?"   
Chandler shook his head.   
"I have work tomorrow and the drive back takes a while"   
Mandy, Phoebe and Joey took their goodbye's and headed of to celebrate while Chandler and Monica took the elevator down to the parkinglot.   
"You want a ride?" Chandler wondered and looked at Monica.   
"Thanks, I really don't feel like taking the subway home tonight" Monica said and gave him a thankful smile.   
  
  
Chapter 11:  
Watching A Movie  
  
Monica was glad that Chandler had picked up on her offer to come upstairs with her for a while. He hadn't seen the apartments for five years and he was curious on what they looked like now. Joey's place didn't give much surprises, it was still messy and the barcanlounger was still were it had always been, infront of the TV but her place had changed a bit since the last time he had seen it.   
Since Phoebe had moved in it had gotten a little more 'hippie' like touch but not too much. She offered him a drink as they sat down on the couch. She really didn't feel like being alone but she hadn't wanted to spoil Phoebe's fun. Chandler looked at her.   
"Seriously, how are you feeling?"   
Monica sighed and took a sip of her wine.   
"I've been better that's for sure" she said and looked at him.   
"And how are you holding up?"   
Chandler sighed too and took a sip of his wine.   
"Pretty good, but I just hate hospitals"   
Monica looked down in her glass.   
"You really loved her, didn't you?"   
The question was really simple and plain, yet it surprised Chandler. He hadn't excpected that question.   
"Of course I did" he said and glanced over at Monica. "Why do you ask?"   
Monica shook her head.   
"No reason" was all she said. They just sat there silently for a while but suddenly Monica got up and went over to the video shelf.   
"What are you doing?" Chandler wondered as he watched her go through her movies.   
"I feel like seeing a movie" she replied as she found what she was looking for. "Do you like Winona Ryder?"   
Monica wondered and turned to him.   
"It depends, is it a movie with Cher in it?" Chandler asked and Monica shook her head.   
"Then, yeah I like her"   
Monica smiled at him.   
"You wanna watch it with me?"   
Chandler thought for a while then he nodded.   
"Sure why not, what's it about?" he asked as Monica went up to the VCR to put it in.   
"It's about a girl in the sixties that signes into a mental hospital and the people there are... not really normal"   
"Yeah 'cause mental patients are usually so rational and normal" Chandler said sarcastically.   
Monica rolled her eyes.   
"Anyway, she meets this girl and then they..."   
Chandler held up his hands.   
"You're giving away the movie!"   
Monica stopped talking. She hadn't realized that. She hit play and went over to sit down.  
  
*****************  
  
About an hour into the movie Chandler realized that Monica had fallen asleep. For the second time in only a few days he couldn't get up. He watched her sleeping and suddenly she snuggled closer to him. At first Chandler felt uncomfertable but then he relaxed. Monica had fallen asleep against him many times in the past few years, why should now be any diffrent? But it was diffrent, in a way that he couldn't explain. He looked at the time, it was half past nine. There was really no point in getting home now. In a way he felt relieved. Now he could stay near Monica.   
Not that that mattered, he quickly added in his thoughts. She's just a friend, a really good friend and nothing more! He could almost hear his mind laughing at him.   
'Yeah and I'm supposed to believe that' he could hear a voice in his head say. 'How stupid do you think I am?'   
Chandler snorted.   
"I would've hoped that you would be an idiot", he said to himself.   
'I am, because I'm you', the voice said. 'And you or me or whoever this is, you want her'.   
Chandler shook his head slowly.   
"No I don't" he whispered angrily careful not to wake Monica up.   
'Yes you do!' the voice in his head teased him.   
"No I don't!" Chandler said a bit louder trying to block out his inner voice.   
'You do, you do, you do!!' the voice said misheviously.   
"No I don't!"   
Chandler wasn't even aware that he was yelling until he saw Monica looking up at him, stur awake.   
"You don't what?" she wondered and looked curious.   
Chandler quickly returned to reality and turned to her.   
"Nothing" Monica didn't look convinced but she let him be.   
She slowly started getting up and looked at the time.   
"Oh my god! How long was I asleep?" she shrieked.   
Chandler couldn't help but smile at her panicked expression.   
"About two hours" he said.   
Monica gasped.   
"What have I done, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to keep you here like that!" Monica was freaking out but Chandler just grinned. Monica noticed this and looked at him.   
"You think this is funny?!" she demanded to know.   
"Not the situation but I've been waiting for you to have a panicked outburst for a while now"   
Monica's panicked look brushed off her and she gave him a weak smile.   
"Well you got what you wished for" she said and walked over to the kitchen "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't" Chandler said quietly to himself, got up and followed her.  
  
*****************  
  
It was in the middle of the night when Phoebe got home from celebrating with Joey and Mandy. Careful not to wake Monica up she took of her shoes and opened the door slowly. The room was dark but she could see a person standing with the back turned against her looking at something on the couch. The person turned around when it heard Phoebe enter. It was Monica. Looking at the couch Phoebe got an explanation to why Monica had been staring at it. Chandler was lying there tucked in a blancet, sleeping peacefully. Monica looked down embarrasted and gestured to Phoebe to join her in her bedroom. Well there she sunk down on her bed with her face in her pillow.   
"What is he doing here?" Phoebe wondered careful to whisper not to risk waking Chandler up. Monica took the pillow from her face and looked at Phoebe.   
"He wanted to see how the apartments were looking these days then we watched a movie" she explained.   
"Really?" Phoebe gave her an suspicious look, Monica just nodded but Phoebe was still not convinced.   
Monica didn't know why but in some way she felt guilty even though there really wasn't more to the storey than what she had told her.   
"Where did you go with Joey and Mandy?" she wondered trying to break the silence.   
"We went to a club and danced a little" Phoebe responded. "How are you doing after this whole Rachel, baby thing?"   
Monica sighed.   
"I'm actually ok with it, believe it or not" she said and looked at Phoebe.   
There was an awkward silence then Phoebe made exused herself with that she was tired and went to her own room.   
Monica leaned back against the wall. What was Phoebe getting at? Did she know? And if she knew, what was it that she knew? Monica had been obsessing about that all night and tired from exhaustment she fell asleep with her head resting in her hand.   
  
  
Chapter 12:  
Work Next Day  
  
When Monica woke up again it was already 11 o'clock. Quietly she cursed herself for having overslept and hurried out to get ready. Neither Chandler or Phoebe were there. On the refrigerator she found a note saying that Phoebe and Chandler had gone to there respectivitant jobs. Monica sighed, why hadn't they woken her up? Her work had begun two hours ago and she knew that after her sudden vaccation for two days she couldn't afford to skip another day. As she got dressed she noticed something under her bed, it was her diary. She couldn't remember that she had put it there. For all she knew she had put it in its hiding spot. Sighing she put it back. She had had a lot on her mind lately and that was probably why everything seemed confused. Picking up her bag she hurried out the door.  
  
*****************  
  
Chandler was sitting in his office basically just trying to keep his eyes open.   
The couch hadn't exactly been comfertable and it had been really late before he actually had fallen asleep. He knew that the raport he was working on was really important and he did his best to try and consentrate on it. If he closed his eyes he could see the people that had stared at him curiously than looked away pretending to be innocent. He couldn't for the world figure out why his personal life had become so interesting to his co-workers.   
Didn't they have anything better to do? probably not, he thought and sighed when he realized that he had been reading the same sentence over and over again for the past ten minutes without managing to memory's one word.   
The diffrence between having him or a 200 year old mumie working was as fine as sand. He had had a strange dream tonight too. He had dreamt that someone had been watching him but when he had tried talking to him or her, the person had turned away and started walking away from him, first slowly then quicker and quicker untill he or she had completely dissapeared out of sight. He had tried to go after but he had not been able to move his legs.   
It was first when he had woken up that he had realized where he was. Then he realized that he had to be at work so he had left without saying goodbye to either Monica or Phoebe, he had however left a note hoping that that would miner his riscs of being called impolite. He hadn't been home since yesterday and was still wearing his day old clothes. Just as he was about to nod off again Marc entered.   
"Ok someone's wearing the same clothes they had on yesterday" Marc said after inspecting him closely.   
Chandler made a move with his head that could be determand as nod.   
"Rachel had the baby" he said yawning big.   
Marc had no idea who that was.   
"Rachel?" he repeated.   
"An old friend, married to Monica's brother" Chandler explained. "After that it was too late to go home so I crashed on Monica's couch. Not really my most comfertable night of sleep" he continiued and rubbed his eyes.   
"I can see that, you can't really tell the diffrence between you and a zombie" Marc said and looked at him. "Why don't you just take the day off and get some rest?"  
Chandler shook his head.   
"I have to finish this raport" he replied.   
Marc took the raport from him and looked at it.   
"The Wallenberg/Smith case doesn't have to be finished for three weeks" Chandler looked up at him.   
"No, it is to be finished tomorrow" he said remembering his boss' strict orders to put this before any other projects.   
"No they've had to postpone it because they had come across some problems, they told us that at the meeting two days ago... which you didn't attend to" Marc said.   
Chandler let out a sigh, both out of relief and frustration.   
"You mean I've been working like a dead rat for three hours without having to?" he wondered and collapsed his head on his desk.   
Marc chuckled.   
"I tried to tell you yesterday but someone didn't have the wiseness to check his answering machine"   
Chandler gave him a sarcastic smile and started putting the papers on his desk in some sort of order.   
"I'm going home"  
  
*****************   
  
Monica was working hard trying to forget what had happened the night before, but she was tired and whenever she closed her eyes she could see Chandler sleeping peacefully on the couch. She remembered that she had watched him once before. It had been the time when he had had that maniac roomate Eddie, she had watched him sleep then too. Although that time he had woken up and scared her half to death. She smiled a little when she thought about how much he had freaked out. Jamie, who was standing next to her, noticed the smile and looked at her curiously.   
"What is with you today?" she wondered as Monica peeled a carott and started dizing it.   
Monica looked at her.   
"What do you mean?" Monica wondered and tried to concentrate on what she was doing making sure she wouldn't cut her finger by mistake.   
"Well you've been staring out the window with a dreamy look on your face ever since you got here" Jamie said and inspected her.   
Monica looked away so that Jamie wouldn't notice that she was blushing.   
"What are you talking about?" she wondered trying to sound innocent but Jamie didn't buy it.   
"Monica, I'm your friend you can tell me" Jamie assured her.   
Monica looked at her in doubt but decided to tell her anyway, she was the only close friend she had apart from the gang, and she couldn't talk to them about this.   
"Fine I'll tell you, but you have to swear you wont tell anyone else"   
Jamie nodded.   
"SWEAR!" Monica repeated and Jamie sighed.   
"I swear!" she said and crossed her heart playfully.   
"Ok. You know Chandler" Monica began.   
Jamie nodded.   
"Well he... I mean... we. Or me... I..."   
"Get on with it already!" Jamie said getting impatient.   
"We kissed!" Monica blurted out.   
"What?!" Jamie didn't realize that she was screaming until she noticed everyone looking at her.   
"What?" she whispered to Monica.   
"We kissed" Monica repeated. Jamie gasped.   
"When, why, how?"   
"I think that the how part is pretty obvious don't you?" Monica said and Jamie sighed.   
"You know what I mean!"   
"Ok we had just gotten back from visisting Julia's grave and we were talking about what we wanted out of relationships and all of a sudden we're kissing" Monica explained.   
"Oh my god!" was all Jamie could get out.   
She had been going out with Marc for quite a while now and he often talked about how miserable his best friend was after the death of his wife. Now she turned to Monica and smiled.   
"I'm so happy for you!" she uttered and gave her a quick hug.   
"Don't be too happy nothing else has happened since then" Monica filled in and looked dissapointed.   
"Nothing?"   
"Well we almost kissed the other night but we didn't" she continiued. "Yesterday?" Jamie wondered but Monica shook her head.   
"No about two days ago. Yesterday Rachel had her baby"   
Jamie shrieked.   
"Why didn't you tell me earlier!?"   
Monica shrugged.   
"It slipped my mind"   
Jamie looked at her.   
"And where exactly has your mind been for the last hour?" she wondered. Monica suddenly turned to Jamie.   
"Jamie, how do you know if you're in love?" she asked and looked at her friend. "I don't really know, you just are I guess... But I did read somewhere that if you can't stop thinking about a peron then you are in love with him"   
Monica nodded slowly and looked thoughtful. The words 'in love' played in her head over and over again.  
  
*****************   
  
Chandler and Marc were sitting watching TV at Chandler's house. Suddenly Marc turned to Chandler.   
"How do you know when you're in love?" he wondered.   
Chandler looked at him for a while.   
"I don't know, why?"   
"I was just wondering" Marc said.   
"Do you think you're in love?" Chandler wondered and stared at him.   
"Maybe but I'm not sure, I've never been in love so I don't know what it feels like" Marc said. "But I know you do" he added and looked at Chandler.   
Chandler sighed, he knew what being in love was like alright.   
"It's hard to explain..." he began not really wanting to go into the subject.   
"But couldn't you try?" Marc wondered giving him a pleading look.   
Chandler sighed again.   
"Fine. It's like... you think about the person constantly and you never notice any annoying habits she might have that has bothered you when someone else has done it. In your eyes she's perfect in every way and... Yeah I think that was it" "Ok now I'm more confused than ever!" Marc complained and rubbed his temples. "Is it Jamie?" Chandler wondered and looked at him.   
Marc nodded.   
"I can't get her out of my mind. Her laugh, her personallity and her perfect self she's so..." he trailed of as he saw Chandler laughing quietly.   
"What?" he wondered.   
"You're in love alright" Chandler proclaimed and grinned.   
"It's horrible!" Marc uttered and put his head in his hands.   
"Tell me about it" Chandler said thoughtful while the words 'in love' circulated in his mind over and over again.  
  
*****************   
  
When Monica came home she found Chandler sitting on the couch in her apartment watching TV.   
"Ok Deja Vu!" she said as he turned around and to say hello. "What are you doing here?" she wondered, went over to the couch.   
"I felt bad about leaving like that" he explaind and looked at her, Monica didn't know why but she suddenly felt shy.   
"That's ok" she mumbled and looked at the TV. "What are you watching?" she wondered and tried to focus on the program.   
"David Letterman" Chandler replied without looking up.   
"You like him?"   
"If I didn't I wouldn't be watching the show now would I?" Chandler remarked sarcastically.   
Monica thought that he sounded a bit irritated.   
"I was only wondering" she said quietly and looked down.   
Chandler noticed the hurt look on her face.   
"Mon, I'm sorry my mind has just been busy" he said and pulled her down besides him.   
"Busy doing what?" Monica wondered and looked into his eyes.   
"Thinking of you" Chandler replied.   
They now became very aware of how close they were sitting. Monica could feel his lips slowly touching hers in a soft kiss which grew deeper and deeper. Suddenly Monica pulled away.   
"What?" Chandler wondered and looked at her.   
"Chandler why are you doing this?" Monica asked, pleading for him to give her the right answer.  
Chandler looked puzzled.   
"What do you mean?" he wondered.   
"Was this just some rebound kiss for you because if it was I don't think that we should continiue" she clearafied.   
Chandler sighed.   
"What makes you think that that's what it was?"   
"Because... this is what you do" Monica answered. "Everytime when you've broken up with one of your girlfriends you get a 'rebounze' girl and..."   
She didn't get a change to finish because Chandler stood up abrubtly.   
"First of all I'm not the same person I was five years ago and second of all, me and Julia didn't break up, she died! How could you even think that I would get a 'rebounze' girl to get over her!?"   
With that he walked towards the door. Monica hurried after him.   
"Chandler wait!"   
Chandler stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to face her.   
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to doubt you..." Monica began but Chandler interuppted her.   
"Then why did you!?"   
Monica could hear how hurt he was and she knew that it was her fault.   
"I don't know I... I've just gone out with so many jerks that I need to know that they wont break my heart again" she finished and looked down at her shoes. "Monica..." Chandler said softly and lifted up her chin forcing their eyes to meet. "We've known eachother for over ten years do you really think that I would throw that away for some quick passion?"   
Monica shook her head and felt ashamed.   
"Now if you don't mind I have something to do" Chandler continiued.   
"What?" Monica wondered.   
"This" he whispered, gave her a slight smile and kissed her again.  
  
*****************   
  
Julia was watching the two kiss and smiled. Finally after many obsticalls she had managed to achive her goal, to get her former husband happy.   
She could litterally feel a weight being lifted from her shoulders. Now she knew he was going to be ok. Her eyes zoomed in on his left hand, no wedding ring, perfect. With one last look at him she signed the expression for love and dissapeared to hopefully never return.  
  
END  



End file.
